Synergos Cultivate the Soul: Stories of Purpose-Driven Philanthropy

Rodney McKenzie, Jr. is Vice President of Ally Development at the Fetzer Institute, helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.

Listen to hear Rodney speak about the role that the church played in his early years as a place to be seen as fully human. He shares how radical forgiveness supported his journey to understand that he is worthy of love and that in order to attract love, he has to model love for himself. Today, through the Fetzer Institute, Rodney and others are working to transform the world so all can flourish.

Rodney McKenzie, Jr., Vice President, Ally Development, Fetzer Institute

I am an openly gay person of faith, a community organizer, and a reverend. I come to Fetzer from Demos, a “’think-and-do’ tank that powers the movement for a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy.” I served there in many roles, most recently as executive vice president leading the organization’s programmatic, movement building, and communications functions. Prior to Demos, I worked at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force—the nation’s oldest national LGBTQ advocacy organization—where my work focused on disrupting the national narrative that LGBTQ people aren’t people of faith and that people of faith don’t support LGBTQ equality and running smart campaigns to win power for marginalized communities. 

Earlier in my career, I co-founded Expansion Church where I served as its spiritual director, regularly preaching on Sundays using a framework of liberation theology. I also served as the executive director of Resource Generation, an organization comprised of 18-35 year olds with access to wealth who are among the richest top 10% of individuals or families in the United States. I currently serve on the boards of the Freedom Center for Social Justice in North Carolina, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and Seek Common Ground. I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I grew up in Dallas, Texas.

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Julianne Lee co-founded Krueger & Lee, a Swiss-based non-profit organization which aims to bring the wisdom and practices of spiritual traditions into today's lifestyle and make them accessible for the contemporary seeker.

Listen to hear how Julianne has been exploring what it means to live well and how her outer life matches her inner values and what she believes in. She shares stories of her own personal transformation and why she creates experiences for leaders to examine the intersection of science, spirituality and wisdom.

Julianne Lee is the CEO of JULIANNE LEE & Co., which publishes ARS VITAE, a Korean-English bilingual, limited-edition publication series which explores what it means to live well.

She and her husband Christian co-founded Krueger & Lee, a Swiss-based non-profit organization which aims to bring the wisdom and practices of spiritual traditions into today's lifestyle and make them accessible for the contemporary seeker. Krueger & Lee works mainly in two areas: providing an evidence-based approach to spirituality through the Spirituality and Science Forum and enabling direct experiences through meditation retreats.

Previously, Julianne was the first Spokesperson of the National Security Council of Korea, and the youngest Presidential Secretary and Spokesperson for Foreign Press Affairs in the RohMoo-Hyun administration. Prior to joining the government, Julianne was a correspondent and news anchor at SBS, a major TV network in Korea. She was also the first female journalist in Korea to become a solo anchor of a prime time news hour in 1994.

She received her B.A. from Brown University and M.A. from Harvard University. In recognition of her unique career, Julianne was named Young Global Leader and New Asian Leader by the World Economic Forum and Next Generation Leader by the Korea Foundation. She is currently a board member of the Korea Foundation.

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Esra Özsüer Is the President and Founder of Maya Vakfi Foundation, providing mental health and psychosocial support for trauma rehabilitation as a response to the complex needs of families and children in crisis.

Esra speaks about her transformative life experiences that helped her understand her purpose and the role that healing plays. By listening to her heart she created the Maya Vakfi Foundation and is launching the new online school of healing, HarmonySpiritus. Listen to hear how pure love transformed a child in their program and her advice on using intuition as a compass in philanthropy.

Esra Özsüer is a Reiki Master, a Sufi and contemplative practitioner. While facing a life threatening illness Esra found herself exploring new paths to health through energy work and wellbeing practices. Her experience was included in Dr Mehment Oz’s studies on energy healing at the Columbia Presbyterian hospital when she had major surgery at the age of 28. Following this transformative period Esra found new life through spiritual practices and evolved in a myriad of ways.

Her dreams led her on a heartfelt journey to launch Maya Vakfi (Foundation) in 2014 to provide mental health and psychosocial support for trauma rehabilitation as a response to the complex needs of families and children in crisis. The guiding principles of the Foundation are to provide a society formed by healthy individuals who spend their childhood and youth freely, safety, confidently and productively. She is a member of Synergos’ Global Philanthropist Circle, a network of over 90 leading international philanthropic families launched by David Rockefeller and his daughter Peggy Dulany. She is an active participant in their Funders of Mindfulness and Spirituality group. Esra is also engaged in the Global Sustainability Network on SDG 8, where members pledge to take action to terminate modern slavery by the end of 2030 and on the boards of the Istanbul Modern Gala and the Bosphorus Summit.

When COVID 19 triggered fear and isolation Esra was the architect behind the Embrace Circle. She gathered spiritual and energy leaders together to lead and support communities in times of uncertainty. Held biweekly with Esra at the helm as an energy harmonizer, the Embrace Circle, finds and explores open heart connections, compassion, social field awareness, systems thinking and collective wellbeing with the goal to be graciously present despite these chaotic times. As follower of Rumi’s wisdom, she includes Sufiism in her teachings.

After exploring this path of consciousness, she intuitively understands that new frequencies and vibrations are the keys to success and aims to reach leaders and change makers that can spread positive changes globally. Through partnerships, she enables people to reach to their optimal frequency to create mass mind shifts in order to heal and give fresh skills for people to rebuild their own lives. Building upon her work at the Foundation she continues to specialize in trauma rehabilitation. After her observation of systemic gaps in today’s practices used to support mental health she sought alternative approaches. Inspired by her experience at the Foundation she’s developing an integrated experience she calls HarmonySpiritus, a platform for healing, teaching certified alternatives to traditional approaches to trauma and psychology. HarmonySpiritus will improve current methods through universally accessible hybrid trainings and involves recognizing the relationship between the mind, the body, the soul and the heart to help better meet the needs of our times. She believes that mindfulness and subtle energy work will be the game-changing ingredient to offer a deeper and more sustainable process to address the needs of all populations. 

When not hard at work at the Foundation she can be found with her biggest pride of all, her husband, three active children and four small grandchildren. Esra is committed to spreading love and is devoted to helping others in their journey to inner harmony to create more impactful, abundant and joyful world.

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Jeffrey Walker is Chairman of New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that backs breakthrough social entrepreneurs who are advancing equity and opportunity in America.

Listen to hear how Jeff has always been a seeker and the role meditation plays in his life. He discovered his purpose, to minimize suffering and enhance joy, on a trip to Bhutan. He shared how his approach to impact involves applying all of his skills, partnering with change-makers and listening to people proximate to the problem. Jeff gives examples of projects that he supports that are shifting systems through collaborations.

Jeff is Chairman of New Profit, a social change venture fund and is founding partner of the Community Health Acceleration Partnership, focused on front line health in Africa and the U.S. He also currently serves on the boards of the African Philanthropy Forum, Just Capital, UVA Center for Contemplative Sciences (where he is chair), Giving Tuesday, the Aspen Management Partnership for Health, Leadership Now Project on democratic reform and the University of Virginia’s Undergraduate Business School, where he was President for ten years. He is also a partner in Bridge Builders investment fund for Mindful Wellness. Jeff was on the board of the University of Virginia, Chairman of The Council of Foundations at University of Virginia (UVA), served on the Berklee College of Music Board, the Harvard Business School Dean’s Board of Advisors and the HBS Visiting Committee and is on the Advisory Boards of MIT Media Lab and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has been on numerous other for-profit and non-profit boards. Previously, Jeff was Executive-in-Residence at Harvard Business School, focusing on social enterprises and collaboration, and a Lecturer at the Kennedy School. At Harvard, he helped to develop a course in exponential fundraising for nonprofits. He served as the Chairman of Millennium Promise, partnering with the United Nations and Columbia University, an incubator to eliminate extreme poverty, and was the Chairman of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello), where he is as an Emeritus Trustee. Jeff Co-Founded and was Chairman of Npower, an organization that provides shared technology services to nonprofits.  Jeff co-authored the book, “The Generosity Network”, about new approaches to gather resources to address causes each of us are passionate about. He is currently teaching, researching and writing on the issue of orchestrating and coordinating systems change. For twenty five years Jeff was CEO and Co-Founder of JPMorgan Partners, JPMorgan Chase Co’s $12 billion global private equity business, Vice Chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Chairman of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. He has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from the University of Virginia, is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant. He received the John Whitehead award for philanthropy from the NYC HBS Club.

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Peggy Dulany is Chair and Founder of Synergos, a global organization helping solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action.

Listen to Peggy share how personal vulnerability is key for leaders to tackle some of the world’s most intractable problems. She believes that philanthropy is not just about money; it is also about connections, influence and skills. There is value in bringing ideas together, as well as people, and creating safe spaces for individuals to bring their full selves out into the world. She shares examples of how Synergos is doing this with philanthropists and in communities around the globe.

Peggy Dulany is Chair of Synergos, a global organization helping solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action.

Drawing from her experience living and working in Rio de Janeiro as a young woman, she realized that the people most affected by adverse living conditions also have the greatest energy and motivation to solve their problems. The resources they lack are connections to the economic and political realms where necessary changes can affect whole communities.

Peggy founded Synergos in 1986 to promote trust and collaboration among grassroots groups and government or business leaders and organizations, people who otherwise would not have access to each other, so that they can develop long-term relationships and forge new paths in overcoming poverty. In 2001, she co-founded Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle with her father, David Rockefeller, to support philanthropic families in using this approach.

Her career has included heading a public high school program for drop-outs and consulting with the United Nations and the Ford Foundation on health care and family planning, and with the National Endowment for the Arts on nonprofit management and planning. She was Senior Vice President of the New York City Partnership, where she headed the Youth Employment, Education, and Community Affairs programs.

Peggy is an honor graduate of Radcliffe College and holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University. She has sat on over thirty nonprofit and corporate boards including Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Africa-America Institute, among others. She runs two socially responsible businesses: a grass-fed beef and guest ranch in Montana and an ecotourism operation in Namibia. Through Synergos, she also guides wilderness retreats that offer participants a safe space in which to reflect on their deepest purpose in life.

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Listen to hear how Heather has been guided throughout her life by a concern for the welfare of others and how, in her earlier career, she sought to transform systems by working on the frontlines of education. She also shares the role science plays in spirituality, what this means to her personally and how this is put into practice at the John Templeton Foundation.

Heather Templeton Dill is president of the John Templeton Foundation. Most recently, she served as executive liaison to the president under her father, the late Dr. Jack Templeton. Dill is the granddaughter of the late Sir John Templeton.

Prior to joining the Foundation staff, she taught high school level history, government, and economics in Pennsylvania. While living in Charlottesville, Virginia, she was a homeschool educator as well as a manuscript editor and research assistant at the University of Virginia. She served as a trustee of the John Templeton Foundation from 1997-2003 and 2009-2015 and has been a member of the Foundation’s executive, finance, and strategic planning committees. Dill is currently a member of the board of First Trust Bank and previously served on the Templeton Religion Trust steering committee and the Templeton World Charity Foundation board.

She holds a master’s degree in American history from Villanova University and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in history and a concentration in public policy.

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Bo Shao is the Co-founder and Chairman of Evolve, a philanthropic investment firm composed of a foundation, Evolve Foundation, and an impact investment firm, Evolve Ventures.

Listen to hear stories from Bo’s childhood growing up in China, how personal relationships shifted after he became a national math champion and the impact this has had on his life. Bo shares his view on the importance of inner work, gives examples of his own practices and how they influence him and the work he is doing to change the world.

Bio:

Mr. Bo Y. Shao, Chairman, Evolve

Mr. Shao is a co-founder and Chairman of Evolve, a philanthropic investment firm composed of a foundation, Evolve Foundation, and an impact investment firm, Evolve Ventures. With an initial capital of $100 million from the Shao family, Evolve aims to support organizations that relieve inner suffering and facilitate inner transformation.

Prior to Evolve, Mr. Shao was a founding partner of Matrix China, a leading technology venture capital firm in China, which manages over $7 billion dollars and has funded over 500 companies, 50 of which have become unicorns. Mr. Shao is also a serial entrepreneur and co-founded EachNet, BabyTree, NovaMed, Nuance Biotech, and Parent Lab. EachNet became the dominant consumer e-commerce company in China under his leadership and was acquired by eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) in 2003 in a landmark transaction. BabyTree (HKSE: 1761) was the leading parenting community in China with over 100 million monthly visitors.

Mr. Shao was born in China and was a winner of national mathematics competitions over a dozen times during high school. He left China when he was 17 years old for Harvard College on a full scholarship, one of the first such scholarships Harvard granted to a person from mainland China. After receiving a BA, summa cum laude, in physics and electrical engineering from Harvard College, he worked for the Boston Consulting Group and Goldman Sachs, and received his MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Shao is a recognized young business leader in China and the recipient of awards in China and abroad, including Young Global Leaders 2005 of the World Economic Forum and Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 by Asian Venture Capital Journal.

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